Radio control (r/c) cars, boats, airplanes, submarines, etc. all have electric motors to make them move or support their movement. The more battery cells that are connected in a series configuration, the more voltage and/or speed that can be delivered to the vehicle. Connecting more battery cells in a parallel configuration allows more amperes and power to be delivered to the vehicle. A combination of series and parallel connections of the battery cells allows the user to configure an optimum power system for a vehicle in terms of weight, size, and the duration that the motor can be activated.
Since the commercialization of miniature vacuum tubes in the 1950s, hobbyists have tried to make model airplanes, boats, and cars function under remote user control by the activation of switches and knobs to control the direction and rate of speed of the model. The early r/c hobbyists all used glow fuel engines to power the vehicles because electric motors were too heavy, slow, and expensive to consider as the primary propulsion device. Batteries located in the vehicles powered electronic modules which converted radio frequency (rf) signals from the user's transmitter into specialized control signals. These signals were sent to a servo unit which turned front wheels on cars, or elevator and rudder surfaces on planes, or tillers and rudders on boats.
As battery and motor technology advanced, the r/c hobbyist could eliminate the noisy, fuel-driven engine and employ quiet electric motors to propel the vehicle. With the invention of the transistor and integrated circuits, the hobbyist could use a single set of batteries to power all the electrical circuits on a vehicle. This means that the receiver, motor speed control, servos, and drive motor all shared the same battery power source. This greatly reduced the weight of the model and simplified the number of parts a hobbyist had to buy to create a remote controlled vehicle.
Advances in electronics miniaturization and foam material processing have permitted the cost of r/c models to drop significantly. It is quite typical for a model r/c airplane flyer to have 4 to 10 fully assembled planes at the airfield during a session. Similarly, electric model car enthusiasts typically have several cars available to enter various types of races—one for each type of racing class. The same is true for boating enthusiasts. Wind sailboats, “cigar-boat” racers, and hydroplanes are available as needed for the different types of racing. All of these vehicles need a battery system. Typically a separate battery is needed for each device to match the size, weight, and power requirements of the specific vehicle in which it is used. Especially in the low-cost foam airplanes that currently exist in the r/c hobby field, the cost of batteries for each model is now equal or greater than the cost of the model's electronics. The present invention describes a method and an apparatus for quickly configuring battery cells so that they can be moved from system to system with a minimum of difficulty, and thus lowers the cost of operation of multiple vehicles.